Suicidal Planet

[Brian Johnson]

It must be depressed.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090826/ap_on_sc/us_sci_suicidal_planet

[PPI Brian]

Its just part of the cycle of creation and destruction in the universe. The same thing will happen to our planetary system when the sun dies. When star systems form they draw in a great deal of material left over after planets form and help clear their orbital paths. During this phase of our system's evolution they refer to it as the "Great Bombardment". The inner planets were getting nuked with tons of asteroids and commets on a fairly regular basis. During this time, planetary scientist speculate that a Mars-sized object struck the Earth and nearly obliterated it. The debris that was ejected during the collision eventually formed the moon. Then when the star runs out of fuel to burn, it enters a red giant phase and incinerates all of its planets, and sheds huge layers of gas in impressive planetary nebula before shrinking into a white dwarf.

It's a shame they didn't list the exact designation of the star this planet orbits. Guess I will have to do some heavy research on this subject later tonight.